BATTLE // April 23, 1809

Battle of Ratisbon

Name: Battle of Ratisbon
Start: 1809-04-23
End: 1809-04-23
Location: Battle of Ratisbon

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Significance

The Battle of Ratisbon closed the Bavaria phase of the 1809 campaign. Although French forces under Napoleon, Lannes, and Davout engaged an Austrian army roughly 25,000 men smaller, the engagement's operational consequence lay less in the disparity of casualties—Austrian losses of roughly 8,000–8,900 against French losses of 1,000–2,000—than in what the Austrian rearguard achieved. The brief defense of Ratisbon and the construction of a pontoon bridge to the east allowed Archduke Charles to withdraw the bulk of his army into Bohemia intact, preserving it as a continuing field force. That escape would shape the subsequent course of the 1809 campaign, as the Austrians remained capable of further resistance. Napoleon was wounded during the assault—an artillery contusion to the ankle—marking a rare instance of the Emperor being struck in battle, though the injury did not remove him from command.

Tactics

French troops assaulted the city walls directly, with Marshal Lannes personally leading men up scaling ladders onto the fortifications. The overview does not provide further detail on maneuver, formation, or terrain use beyond the urban assault and the Austrian construction of a pontoon bridge to the east to facilitate withdrawal.